


perfect ten

by aerynlallaboso



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, mostly ky but with a side order of shizune/tsunade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-15 16:11:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2235252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerynlallaboso/pseuds/aerynlallaboso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ten," the deep voice says lazily. It's not loud, clearly not intended to carry much beyond the person who spoke the word, but somehow his ears catch it through the general buzzing of the midday crowds.</p><p>(the one where Kakashi and Shizune spend way too much time rating passersby on looks, and Yamato overhears accidentally)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It's a Tuesday afternoon, and Yamato is late.

He's not ordinarily late. On the contrary, he prefers to be early if he can help it; but on this particular occasion, circumstances and a nasty computer virus that required immediate attention have conspired against him, and he's running twenty minutes behind schedule. The flow of shoppers through the mall he regularly cuts through to get to the train station is not especially heavy today, thankfully, and he's power-walking through them, focused only on counting his steps, when he is distracted by something.

"Ten," the deep voice says lazily. It's not loud, clearly not intended to carry much beyond the person who spoke the word, but somehow his ears catch it through the general buzzing of the midday crowds.

Yamato turns, despite the silent shrieking from his brain to hurry it up already. He's just passed through a small open-air courtyard in the middle of the mall, filled with people streaming through in both directions. Theoretically, the voice could have come from any one of them. He sweeps his eyes over his fellow shop-goers.

There. At one of the white-topped tables dotted throughout the courtyard. There's a man, nose and mouth hidden by a thick scarf, unusual in this weather, and one eye hidden by white hair, probably bleached. His other eye is unmistakeably looking straight at Yamato, as are the eyes of the dark-haired woman seated next to him.

Yamato's laptop, left on when he fled the apartment in panic, is burning a hole in the arm it's tucked under; the shoulder strap on his bag is digging heavily into him. He has to go right now if he's going to make it in time.

Cursing himself, Yamato makes his way over to the table.

The woman gives a little gasp when she sees him coming towards them and says something quietly to the guy beside her. She's giggling when he reaches their table, and continues giggling as he stands in front of it, feeling like an absolute fool.

The man with the bleached hair tilts his head. "Yep," he remarks slowly, in the same deep voice Yamato heard earlier. "Definitely a ten. What do you think, Shizune?"

"I think six," the woman says, stifling her giggles. She shakes her head and grins. "A very solid six, though."

A pink flush spreads across Yamato's cheeks. "Um," he says. "You're talking about me like I'm not here."

Bleached hair man and - Shizune? - exchange brief glances. "We're sorry," says the woman, still grinning widely. "We're not used to people coming up to us like this."

"Then - why did you say 'ten' so loudly?"

Shizune nudges her companion. "Told you you were projecting too far."

"It's not my fault you're hard of hearing," bleached hair man replies, adjusting his scarf. He fixes Yamato with that one dark eye again. "I apologise for disturbing you. Can I buy you a coffee or something to make it up to you?"

"Ooh, smooth, Kakashi."

Bleached hair man is... not unattractive, from what can be seen above the scarf. It is, however, just past one forty-five, or so says the digital display bolted to a wall a few feet away, and that means Yamato only has fifteen more minutes to reach his destination. "Sorry, but I - I really have to be somewhere."

"Ahhh," Shizune says. She looks more disappointed than bleached hair man does, in all honesty.

Yamato makes to leave, but remembers at the last second the question that originally brought him to the table. "\When you said ten, before," he asks awkwardly. "You meant-"

"I meant you're the cutest person I've seen through this place all year," bleached hair man says, giving him what Yamato thinks is a smile, judging from the wrinkles around his eye. "See you around sometime."

As he sprints rapidly for his train, Yamato isn't sure which is hotter: the laptop under his arm, or his burning face.

~~

Shizune and the bleached hair man are sat at the same table the next day when Yamato passes through, although he gives them a fairly wide berth. He's still a touch embarrassed from their first encounter.

On Thursday, he takes a different route through the mall altogether. Embarrassment is a lingering emotion, alright?

The subsequent Tuesday, however, part of the shopping centre has been cordoned off. One of the ultra-fashionable clothing boutiques located there has become fashionable no longer and is due to be replaced by a local chain, so all customers are being directed through the courtyard. Past the sunny area where the two people he would really rather avoid are sitting.

Yamato spots them immediately, lounging around the same table yet again. He inhales deeply, clutching his laptop and broken bag - the strap, already strained from years of use, snapped a day earlier - to his chest, and steels himself to walk past them.

After a two-second count, he marches across the courtyard, avoiding eye contact with anybody, and only exhales once he's reached the other side. The weight pressed against him feels lighter all of a sudden, as if his worry had been holding him down this whole time.

No, wait. His bag is gone.

Yamato turns around, very slowly, just in time to see Shizune picking his bag up from where it had slipped from his grasp. She waves cheerfully at him, and nudges bleached hair man, who does the same.

"Oh, god," Yamato mumbles.

"Here you go," Shizune calls to him as he approaches, holding out the bag with the two ends of its severed strap dangling over the ground. She grabs one with her other hand. "Did that happen just now, or...?"

"No, it was already broken." He takes it from her and smiles nervously. "Thank you."

"No problem," Shizune says. She gives bleached man hair another unsubtle nudge. "So, the uh-"

The man springs to life. "That coffee's still on offer, if you're not busy today," he says, leaning forward. His eye is - twinkling? No, that can't be right. He's certainly more animated than he had been a moment ago; when Yamato came up, he could've easily been mistaken for a scarecrow propped up against the seat.

"Six," Shizune says in a loud whisper.

Bleached hair man's twinkling eye darts to the left, looking somewhere behind Yamato. "I'd say five. She's got style, though."

"Is this what you do all day?" Yamato asks, frowning. "Just sit here and, uh, rate people?"

"Not all day," bleached hair man answers. He leans back again. "So, coffee?"

The offer is... well, considering how much trouble he's been going to to avoid it, it's shockingly tempting. Yamato really should leave - but he's running an hour early, and he's curious now.

"Okay, sure."

He hopes he's not going to regret this.

~~

Five minutes later, Yamato is seated on a wonky plastic chair that bleached hair man poached from a nearby table, sipping the coffee that said man - he still hasn't introduced himself yet and Yamato can't quite remember what Shizune called him that first time - bought for him. Shizune quietly calls out a number every so often, and the man replies with his own rating without missing a beat. How he can even see half the people Shizune's apparently looking at, Yamato has no idea.

"So," Shizune says between numbers. "What's your name, Mister Ten?"

"I thought you gave me a six," Yamato replies, taking another sip from his coffee cup.

She shrugs. "Higher ratings supercede. We decided pretty early on."

"How long have you been doing this?"

"A while," bleached hair man says. He tugs his scarf down so he can slip the straw from his iced tea into his mouth; Yamato catches a glimpse of a straight nose and thin lips before the man manages to fold his scarf around the straw, preserving his anonymity and letting him drink at the same time. His dedication to staying incognito might be more admirable if it weren't entirely ruined by his rather unique messy hair. "So. What's your name?"

"Yamato," Yamato says. "And you are...?"

He thinks that's a smile under the scarf and straw. "Kakashi. Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Shizune," Shizune chimes in. "Seven."

"Huh?"

She points to a tall, well-dressed man leaning against a wall on the other side of the courtyard, intently focused on his cellphone. "That guy. I'd say he's about a seven."

"Yep," Kakashi says, sucking on his straw. "So, Yamato. What do you do?"

Yamato explains that he's studying at a university two hours away by train, which is why he was in so much of a hurry the other day. Not because he'd been incredibly flustered by the whole 'ten' thing. Not at all.

They both nod understandingly. "Two hours both ways?" Shizune asks in a sympathetic tone. "That'd turn my hair as white as Kakashi's."

"I don't think that's how it works," says Kakashi. The gurgling noise of air being sucked through a straw sounds from his plastic cup. He frowns slightly and pops the straw from his mouth, pulling the scarf back into place swiftly before resuming his conversation. "My hair's all-natural, anyway. nothing to do with stress."

"I-it is?" 

"Yep," Kakashi says again, staring straight at Yamato. It's quite disconcerting to be looked at with such focus, but Yamato is determined not to blush.

He does feel bad for mentally referring to Kakashi as 'bleached hair man' when Shizune confirms that the hair is indeed natural, though. Unless it is bleach or dye, and they're just messing with him. He can't tell. Shizune is friendly, but Kakashi is just plain weird. 

But really good-looking too, if the brief glance Yamato got under the scarf is anything to go by.

Shizune screws up her nose. "Two," she says.

Yamato isn't sure who she's referring to, but somehow, Kakashi manages to follow her line of sight and wrinkle his own nose. "Maybe a three," he offers.

"Two," Yamato says suddenly.

Kakashi and Shizune look at him with interest. "Who?" Kakashi asks, visible eye flitting around the courtyard.

"Uh, no, it's nearly two o'clock. So I need to get going."

"Oh." Kakashi actually looks disappointed this time.

Yamato crumples his coffee cup in one hand, tucking his other belongings under his arm with the other, and smiles at him. Both of them. "Thanks for the coffee. And the bag, before."

"No problem," Shizune says with a little wave. Then, as he turns to go, "Wait!"

"Did I forget something?" Yamato asks, puzzled.

Shizune elbows Kakashi, looking embarrassed. "Kakashi, aren't you going to...?"

There's a short, awkward pause before Kakashi blinks at her. "Ask for his number?" he finishes for her, glancing at Yamato. "He comes here all the time, right? And besides, I already know his number."

Yamato frowns. Shizune's brow furrows like she knows exactly where this is going.

"Ten," Kakashi says, catching Yamato's eyes and sounding extremely pleased with himself.

Yamato hurries away to the sound of Kakashi's quiet laughter and Shizune's audible eye-rolling, feeling a faint blush coming on despite himself.

~~

Tuesday rolls into Wednesday with uncomfortable swiftness, leaving Yamato tired and uncertain about the quality of the work he'd produced late last night. He sets off for the station - and by extension, the shops - about half an hour earlier than usual. He is not, for the first time in a week, thinking about how to avoid Kakashi and Shizune.

Actually, by the time he strides into the mall courtyard, Yamato's thinking of how to ask if he can sit with them again. They - it's ridiculous, but they interest him.

Shizune is sat with her back to his ordinary approach today. Kakashi is slouched in a chair diagonally opposite her, but his scarf-hidden face is further obscured by a thin book with a faded green cover, and he doesn't show any sign of seeing Yamato as he hands over his change to the girl at the coffee shop and walks slowly over to their table.

There's an awkward moment of silence before they notice him, in which Yamato considers dropping his coffee and running for the hills. It's awfully like lunchtime at high school all over again.

"Hello," Kakashi says, without looking up from his book.

Shizune swivels in her chair - difficult, considering the immobility of said chair, but she manages, with a nasty plastic-scraping-concrete sound. "Hi, Yamato," she says. "You want to sit down with that coffee?"

Yamato nods, and is about to take the chair to Shizune's side before Kakashi pulls out the fourth chair at the table, on his own left, and pats it meaningfully. He hasn't removed his nose from his book even to do this, Yamato notes.

"So," Kakashi says as Yamato settles himself at the table, "You came back."

"Yeah." He doesn't feel like explaining further than that, especially since he's not completely sure of the reason why himself. Neither of them seem that interested, anyway.

Kakashi tilts his head up from the green-covered book and eyes Yamato's coffee. "I'm not paying for that one," he says mildly. "It was a one-time offer."

Ouch. "I already paid for it," Yamato says, a little put out that Kakashi thinks he only came back for the free drink.

Shizune sighs from opposite them. "Don't worry," she says, resting her chin in her hands. "It's nothing personal. Kakashi's just a huge cheapskate, he does this to everyone." The corners of her mouth twitch up. "Especially people he likes."

Yamato wants to ask her exactly what that means, but at that moment a fairly large crowd of people drifts into the courtyard, rapidly dispersing towards the coffee stand and the paths to the rest of the mall, and Kakashi and Shizune begin rapidly exchanging ratings before their new targets move out of view.

While they're occupied, Yamato sips his coffee and studies the worn cover on Kakashi's book, finally discarded in favour of the flurry of numbers he's spouting quietly at Shizune. The words 'Makeout Tactics' are emblazoned across the top. Whether it's an instructional manual or a badly-titled trashy novel, Yamato cannot discern, though he suspects the latter.

When the last of the crowd disappears from sight in the direction of the car-park, Shizune relaxes back into her seat with another tiny sigh. "There was a nine," she says happily.

"Eight," says Kakashi, picking up his novel again.

"Nine," Shizune counters.

"Eight."

"That's pretty high," Yamato observes, interrupting the back and forth. "Do you see many people who rate... up there?"

It is again quite unnerving to have all of Kakashi's attention refocus on him in the space of a single breath. Flattering, but unnerving. "Not many," Kakashi says.

"I used to go out with a guy who was a nine," Shizune says dreamily. "He had to move overseas for work eventually. One of my other exes was a ten, though. She had these gorgeous red eyes - I think they might have been contacts, but she never took them out." She droops a bit. "She married someone else. It was probably for the best."

Yamato swallows a bitter mouthful from his cup. He's nearly out of coffee. "Oh," he says awkwardly.

There is an uncomfortable pause.

"Sorry," Shizune says, giggling nervously. "I didn't - um. You don't care about my old exes. Sorry."

Yamato tries to smile reassuringly. "No, it's fine."

"It's kinda nice to talk to someone who isn't Kakashi for once," she adds, ignoring Kakashi's quiet protest. "He's heard all about this stuff already."

"Twice," Kakashi mutters to Yamato. He sniffs and turns a page in his book, brushing white hair away from his covered eye in the process and giving Yamato a good look at it for the first time.

Oh, wow.

He tries not to stare, but he can see why Kakashi keeps it covered. It's _red_ , not a dull inflamed red but a bright and unnatural crimson that stands out against the white of the eye. There's a thin scar running through Kakashi's silvery eyebrow to somewhere beneath his scarf, too.

Who _is_ this guy?

Shizune must have noticed too, because she leans across and taps the top of 'Makeout Tactics' lightly. "Your eye," she murmurs.

"Hmm? Oh." Kakashi blinks twice swiftly and puts the book down on the table again. He turns to Yamato. "Acquired heterochromia," he says, pointing at the red eye. "From an - accident I was involved in. You may have heard of the condition."

"I have," Yamato says slowly, watching Kakashi run his pointing finger over the scar. "I didn't know heterochromia could turn eyes that colour, though."

Are there other scars under the scarf? He didn't see enough the other day to be sure.

Almost without thinking, Yamato reaches out with the hand not wrapped around his cup and touches the pale line on Kakashi's face, gently tracing it with his fingertip as Kakashi had a few moments ago. He stops at the edge of the scarf, and suddenly realises exactly what he's doing.

"Wow," Shizune says, grinning. Yamato snatches his hand back, fighting down the urge to jump up and sprint away.

Kakashi, thankfully, just looks amused.

"Um," Yamato says nervously. He goes to take a gulp of coffee to hide his own face, but the cup is horribly empty all of a sudden. "I -"

The digital display on the wall that he can see over Shizune's shoulder changes; one number flickers out of existence and is replaced by another, marking five minutes after he had planned to leave.

"I actually need to go," he finishes, substituting for whatever he'd been about to babble out.

"Sure," Kakashi says. He pulls some hair down to cover his eye and scar again, and smiles at Yamato. Shizune widens her own grin. "See you next time."

Next time, Yamato thinks furiously, ignoring entirely the part of his brain that questions why he's even thinking about another 'next time', he's going to make absolutely sure that he manages to leave both on time and without embarrassing himself horrifically.


	2. Chapter 2

A week passes.

It's shocking how easily it becomes routine. One day he's leaving his place with an hour to spare before his train leaves, maybe an extra ten minutes if he's feeling slow, and the next he's out the door at midday or earlier so he can spend the extra time chatting with Kakashi and Shizune.

Yamato doesn't have many friends, certainly not any he sees as regularly as those two. If he can call them friends. 'Acquaintances I met when I overheard them making remarks about my attractiveness' doesn't have a great ring to it.

He does get around to asking them more questions about their... game, the Tuesday after the scar thing. They just look at each other, and shrug, and Kakashi says something about it having been invented to pass the time.

"I don't have a lot to do," he explains to Yamato, turning another page of 'Makeout Tactics' with his long fingers.

Yamato frowns. "You don't work?"

"Oh, he works," Shizune says. "Just not nearly as much as I do. Or you, probably." She tucks a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear and sits back before adding, in response to Yamato's questioning expression, "I'm a nurse, by the way. Night shift. Which is why I hang out here most of the day."

She reaches down to grab the black handbag sitting at her feet and opens it to show him a pager neatly stowed away between a purse and a packet of tissues.

"I thought nurses who work night shift ended up going nocturnal," Yamato says.

"I get enough sleep," Shizune says, stifling a yawn which might indicate otherwise. "I have to come out here to buy stuff anyway, so I might as well talk to Kakashi for a few hours. It's relaxing."

"Sitting and... rating people?"

She smiles. "People-watching is relaxing. People-rating is fun."

"Uh-huh," Yamato says dryly, but he returns her smile.

He starts to pick up his things to leave at quarter to two, as usual, just around the time another flood of mall customers passes through, leaving Shizune stumbling through her numbers in an effort to keep up. He's trying to adjust the strap on his brand new bag - the old one couldn't be salvaged, sadly - when he notices Kakashi watching him over the edge of his book.

Yamato clears his throat. "Something you wanted, Kakashi?"

"Actually," Kakashi says, snapping the book closed and placing it delicately on the table. "I'm working tomorrow -"

Shizune snorts.

"I'm working tomorrow," Kakashi repeats firmly. "So I won't be able to join the two of you. And I was wondering if I might be able to have your phone number. Just in case."

"In - in case of what?" Now that he thinks about it, he's not certain he has his phone on him.

"In case I need to hear your voice," Kakashi says innocently. The gleam in his eye that Yamato isn't completely sure he isn't imagining has returned.

Shizune is looking between them with an air of gleeful anticipation.

It's not that he's entirely averse to giving Kakashi his number. His _phone_ number, thank you very much. But he's only known the man two weeks, and he doesn't yet feel completely comfortable with what might come _after_ giving him a direct means of communication between them. Despite, or perhaps because of, the whole scar-touching thing.

Plus, the lack of rectangular bump in his jeans pocket rather indicates that he definitely does not have his mobile with him. "Sorry," Yamato says, trying to sound devastated. "I forgot my phone today."

"And your number?" Kakashi inquires.

Yamato shrugs. "I don't recall," he says, which is mostly true. He might've been able to pull the last three digits out of his head if Kakashi wasn't staring him straight in the eyes like that. It's very distracting.

Shizune lets out the breath she'd been holding in a half-laugh.

"Oh, well," Kakashi says, tilting his head. "Next time."

~~

True to his word, Kakashi's distinctive presence is absent when the day comes around. Yamato takes the opportunity to stash his belongings on his usual seat and sit closer to Shizune, whose flow of numbers is quieter and less frequent now that she doesn't have a partner to bounce off.

"I could always try to fill in," he offers. Shizune smiles and gently refuses him.

"You don't have a good enough eye," she says, then hurriedly adds, "Yet. I mean, we've had way too much practice at this, so-"

He waves her off, nodding. " 's okay, I get it."

They both relax somewhat after that, chattering quietly above the buzz of afternoon shoppers and briefly leaving their table to order second paper cups of coffee from a smiley teen cashier with her hair in two fluffy brown buns. Yamato finds Shizune very easy to talk to; they share a few interests, and they both know how to let a conversation lapse in comfortable silence when there's nothing left to say.

"Twin sixes," Shizune says through a mouthful of coffee.

Yamato follows her gaze to two identical redheads strolling through the courtyard. "You know," he says, watching the twins link arms. "I can't believe you only gave me a six."

Shizune swats his shoulder. "It was a really solid six! Wasn't Kakashi's ten enough for you?"

"Well, sure. Yeah." Enough to get him weirdly flustered everytime he thinks about it.

"So, what would you give me?"

"Seven," Yamato says, smiling.

"That's sweet of you. What about Kakashi?"

The smile freezes on his face. "Um," he says, quickly realising from Shizune's innocent look - disturbingly reminiscent of Kakashi's - that he'd walked right into a trap. "Kakashi? He's hard to give a rating to. Because of the mask. I haven't seen his whole face, so I can't judge all of his features properly."

Shizune's expression registers both disappointment and bemusement as she opens her mouth to respond to his total copout, but the only thing she manages to get out is "okay" before her jaw slackens and her face collapses into amazement at something behind him.

"What?" Yamato asks, genuinely concerned.

"Ten," Shizune says. She sounds almost _reverent_. "Oh my god, my first ten in three years."

Yamato really wants to ask again how long she and Kakashi have been at this thing if she's measuring in years, but decides to save it for later and instead turns to see the person who has provoked such a strong reaction from her.

A woman, probably in her mid-forties by the furrows in her brow, is walking towards the west entrance to the courtyard. She has long blonde hair framing her face, and holds her head high in the air, moving with purpose and not even glancing aside from her chosen path.

Which is probably good, because if she had, she might've noticed Shizune gawking open-mouthed at her.

Yamato murmurs, "You're staring," and Shizune tears her eyes away from the woman just as she rounds a corner out of view.

"Sorry," she says, flushing faintly. " _Ten_ , though. She was gorgeous."

"She was," Yamato agrees. He shakes his head. "Not really my type."

Shizune looks almost offended. "What _is_ your type then? Oh, wait, I know: cool, white-haired, facial scarring, right?"

"Wh-what? So what if it is?"

They both stare at each other for a few silent seconds, Shizune's blush fading and Yamato developing one in her stead when his brain catches up to his mouth.

"Oh my god," Shizune says, and starts giggling.

After a second or two, Yamato joins her.

~~

After finishing up their giggle-fit, they part ways, Yamato to his train and Shizune to pick up a few everyday necessities from the supermarket. On her way out, she mentions to Yamato for the first time that she and Kakashi are at the mall practically all weekend, not just during normal business hours, and suggests that he drop by. If he doesn't have anything better to do.

As it happens, Yamato really doesn't have anything better to do.

Truly, he's not even sure what he used to do to fill in time between homework and sleep and the occasional drink with sort-of friends from the university.

Kakashi isn't there again when he arrives on Saturday morning, but Shizune waves him over wearily. She has dark circles under her eyes and appears to have her coffee cup glued to her hand.

"Rough night?"

She nods and yawns. "Friday night shift's never fun. Kakashi said he was going to be late today, too, so-"

"Hi," Kakashi says, materialising from the crowd next to his normal seat and startling Shizune out of another yawn. Yamato finds himself wondering if the man is some kind of ex-assassin: it would explain the scar, and nobody with that ridiculously conspicuous hair and covered face should be able to just blend like that.

Making him stand out even more today, somehow, is the small dog on a leash at his feet. It looks like a pug. A very, very small one.

Kakashi arranges himself on his chair and pulls the dog onto his lap, leash pooling around it in a sort of cushion. He flashes them both a smile.

"Hi," Yamato says, staring at the dog.

Shizune leans forward to get a better view of it. "Oh, you brought your work with you today?"

"Yep," says Kakashi. He glances at Yamato, who by now is looking very confused, and explains, "I volunteer at an animal shelter. Pakkun here needed a walk, so I figured I'd give them a hand while I'm out."

"Ah," says Yamato. Funny. He would've thought Kakashi more of a cat person, if he'd expected him to like animals at all.

It is a very cute dog, though.

Wait. "You volunteer? So you don't actually get paid?"

Kakashi shoots a look at Shizune, who rolls her eyes and stands up to go get him the iced tea Yamato had noticed he'd forgotten. "No," he says, petting the dog. "But it's for a good cause, so I don't mind."

"That's admirable of you," Yamato says incredulously, recalling Shizune's much earlier description of him as a huge cheapskate.

"That's bullshit," Shizune calls from the coffee stand a few metres away. Yamato can see the cashier with the hair buns grinning behind her hand as she takes Shizune's money and hands her a cup and a little bag.

Kakashi ignores her and goes on petting the pug.

After retrieving her items from the cashier, Shizune returns to the table and slides the iced tea across to Kakashi, who performs his scarf-and-straw trick to get at the liquid in the cup without showing his face. "Free cookies," Shizune announces to them, and waves the bag.

Yamato holds up his hand and she tosses it underhand to him. They're chocolate chip and walnut and rather crumbly, he discovers upon examination.

"Apparently we're her best customers," Shizune says cheerfully, refusing a cookie with a wave of her hand. Yamato doesn't suppose Kakashi will want one, in the interests of keeping his mouth concealed, so he just bites into his second, nodding.

Indeed, when he shifts his gaze over to Kakashi, the man has whipped out a book from his jacket pocket and seems absorbed in reading it, hand idly stroking the dog's head. It's a different book this time, with an orange cover, but - "Makeout _Paradise_?" Yamato asks. "Are they a series?"

Kakashi lowers the novel so he can eye Yamato appraisingly. "Why? Are you interested in this sort of literature?"

"Literature," Shizune scoffs.

Yamato agrees. Anything entitled 'Makeout Paradise' can only belong to the trashiest subset of human media output. "Definitely not," he says. "Should you really be reading that in public?"

"Why not? Pakkun doesn't mind, do you, boy?"

The dog gives a snuffly little bark and drools into Kakashi's lap.

"See?" Kakashi says, as if that proves something. "Besides, these books are the reason I don't have to work."

"Wh - how?'

"He lives off the royalties," Shizune says with a sigh. "He inherited the rights to the series from a weird old friend of his who died five years ago, and somehow - yeah, I know," she adds to Yamato's sceptical face, "somehow just enough people buy them that Kakashi can relax at home without having to worry about a steady income."

Kakashi frowns reproachfully. "You shouldn't disrespect Master Jiraiya's works like that."

Master Jiraiya? "I don't even want to know," Yamato says, picking up the last cookie and munching down on it. He licks his lips when he's done, and he could swear Kakashi's eyes flicker to his mouth for a moment.

He dismisses it as wishful thinking, then promptly has a minor breakdown at the idea that he might be 'wishfully thinking' about Kakashi staring at his lips.

"Oh, Kakashi, I forgot to tell you," Shizune says, oblivious to Yamato's inner turmoil. "I saw a ten the other day, when you weren't here." She sighs dreamily. "The most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my entire life."

"Oh?" Kakashi says.

Shizune tips forward, resting her arms on the table, to begin a detailed description of the woman she and Yamato had seen, and then stops dead. Her eyes widen; her face melts into an astonished expression. "It's her," she whispers loudly. "Over there!"

Both Kakashi and Yamato turn their heads.

"She's coming over here," Yamato says with equal astonishment. Kakashi, curiously, pales to a shade comparable to paper.

The woman approaches briskly and aimed directly at the table the three - four, if Pakkun counts - of them are seated around, leaving no doubt of her destination. She halts, positioning her left hand on her hip, and says, "Afternoon, Kakashi."

Shizune makes a tiny strangled noise.

"Uh," Kakashi says. He clears his throat. "Hi, Tsunade."

It's fascinating to see him so rattled, Yamato reflects. And somewhat endearing.

"Haven't seen you in a long while," the woman says, shifting her weight to the hip with her hand on it. Her voice is as powerful as her walk; she sounds like she does a lot of shouting.

"No," Kakashi admits, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. "I haven't really been over your side of town since Jiraiya passed."

" _Jiraiya_?" Shizune squeaks, and immediately looks mortified before asking, in a more normal pitch, "You knew Jiraiya?"

The woman - Tsunade - grins and says, "Yes, I knew Jiraiya. Quite well." Her grin turns a touch wistful, as if reminiscing, then resumes its friendly air. She shoots Kakashi a meaningful look. "Friends of yours, Kakashi?"

The colour, such as it is, is returning to Kakashi's skin. "Yeah," he says, wiggling the hand which doesn't have a leash curled round it in their general direction. "This is Shizune and Yamato. Very good friends of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you," Tsunade says, offering her other hand to Yamato. He shakes it warmly, surprised at the formal greeting, though not at her incredibly tough grip, and sneaks a peek at Shizune to see how she's faring.

Failing to hide a violent blush, by the looks of it.

She manages a smile and a strong "Nice to meet you, too!" when Tsunade takes her hand, though, giving Yamato an odd feeling of pride. It's also quite satisfying, in a selfish way, to not be the person embarrassing themselves. For once.

Tsunade and Kakashi exchange a few pleasantries, inquiring after mutual friends and generally talking the uncomfortable talk of acquaintances who don't quite know each other well enough to interact outside of an unwritten social script, so it's only another three minutes before Tsunade sighs and says, "Well, I should get going."

Kakashi nods and crinkles his eye in place of a smile. "It was good to catch up."

"Yeah," Tsunade says, directing a farewell nod at Yamato and a lingering smile at Shizune. "See you round."

As soon as she's out of earshot, headed off to the west at a swift and steady pace, Shizune rounds on Kakashi. "You _know_ her?"

"That's fairly obvious," Kakashi says wryly. He pets Pakkun, who has not made a single noise during the entire encounter. Yamato doubts Tsunade even noticed there was a dog sitting in Kakashi's lap. "She was a close friend of Jiraiya's, so I met her a few times at his place. And she used to be my boss."

Yamato blinks. "Your boss?"

"When I had a regular job." Kakashi pauses, shaking his head. "She was... difficult to work for."

He can well imagine. Tsunade seems intimidating enough in a casual setting; it would probably be a whole different experience in the workplace.

Shizune slumps back in her seat, looking absolutely exhausted. "I need to go home," she says. "I need to go home and sleep for a really long time."

Yamato pats her shoulder reassuringly.

"I should probably get Pakkun back to the shelter," Kakashi says. The dog snuffles again at the sound of its name.

"Are you gonna bring him next time?" Shizune asks as they all stand to go, collecting bags and empty cups. Kakashi hesitates before shrugging and answering, "I don't think so. They don't like me taking the dogs out too often."

Shizune yawns and grins. "Afraid you'll kidnap them?"

"Pakkun is pretty cute," Yamato chimes in, matching Shizune's teasing grin.

"Not as cute as you," Kakashi says, _winking_ and then just turning and walking away, Pakkun following on chubby little legs, without even giving Yamato a chance to think up a less-than-witty retort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> final chapter should be another week or so, since i'm a bit muddier about what direction to take to the ending. hope you're enjoying it!


	3. Chapter 3

After that eventful Saturday, life intervenes, and Yamato doesn't get a chance to see Kakashi or Shizune for several days. They aren't there the only time he passes through the mall, so he buys a coffee - "I'm sure they'll be here on Friday," the cashier says with a soothing smile - and heads through, trying to avoid glancing balefully at their strangely unoccupied spot.

The cashier's certainty is apparently not misplaced, because he spots a familiar mess of white hair when he steps in on Friday, at precisely twelve noon. Kakashi is sprawled carelessly against his chair, deep in 'Makeout Paradise', but Yamato's pulse does not quicken at all when he fails to see Shizune's dark head in the seat opposite.

"Hey," he calls to Kakashi when he's close enough. "Where's Shizune today?"

"Probably at home." Kakashi sips his iced tea, idly gazing at a spot somewhere on the other side of the courtyard. He sniffs the air thoughtfully and directs a smile at Yamato, kicking out the chair beside him with one foot. "Getting ready for her date."

Yamato settles himself on the pushed-out chair cautiously and raises his eyebrows. There's not much space between him and Kakashi in terms of seating arrangements now. "Date?"

"With Tsunade."

" _Tsunade_?" When on earth had that happened?

"While you were busy," Kakashi says casually, in response to the unspoken question. "I ran into her outside of work the other day and suggested that my friend might like to see her again. She was surprisingly amenable."

Wow. "That's great," Yamato says, smiling. It is great; he's unexpectedly delighted for his friend. He does, however, wish that he'd given her his phone number at some point. Now would've been a fantastic time for his barely-used text messaging plan to get a workout.

Unfortunately, he's obviously missed that chance, and Kakashi doesn't appear about to be more forthcoming with the details, so he decides to change the topic ever so slightly. "You met Tsunade at work? How often do you go in?"

Kakashi shrugs nonchalantly. "A couple of days a fortnight. It's been less lately, now that I'm in the middle of other projects."

"Other projects?"

"Ah, I haven't said, have I?" His tone turns far more animated all of a sudden, and he closes 'Makeout Paradise', brandishing it at Yamato. "I own the rights to this series, as you know, and I started writing a sequel to Master Jiraiya's last masterpiece a while ago, but I never finished. That is, until recently, when I was inspired to take it up again. It's time-consuming work."

"You're writing another book in the Makeout series," Yamato says in disbelief, although the more he thinks about it, the more believable it becomes. Authors _are_ supposed to be eccentric, and he can't imagine anyone more eccentric than Kakashi.

He wonders, with a small amount of horror, what 'Master' Jiraiya must have been like.

Kakashi evidently takes this statement as an expression of interest, because he starts to talk, more than Yamato has ever heard him do so before, about his original ideas for the book. "Pirates are too overdone," he says, fixing his dark eye on Yamato. "Ninjas -"

"Are due for a revival?" Yamato suggests.

"No," Kakashi says disapprovingly. "Also too overdone. I thought about pushing lawyers, for a while."

"Uh - lawyers?" It would be original, at least. He's pretty sure he's never heard of erotica featuring the legal kind of bars.

"The handsome silver-haired prosecutor facing his childhood friend in court," says Kakashi, playing with the end of his scarf. "But the publisher I talked to didn't like it."

Yamato tries to make sympathetic noises. Honestly, 'Makeout' whatever Kakashi ends up titling it is guaranteed to still be far outside his usual reading material, but he's happy to listen. Kakashi's voice is low and steady and really quite pleasant.

Halfway through outlining his initial proposal to have the love interest be the main character's kohai, Kakashi digs out a crinkled white bag - "More free cookies," he says, nodding to the coffee stand - and offers it to Yamato.

"Do you want one?" Yamato asks, taking the bag, and to his utter shock, Kakashi accepts, and pulls his scarf down to delicately pry apart a cookie with his teeth.

He'd imagined Kakashi's face as something that needed to be hidden - because of nastier cousins to the thin scar through his eye, maybe, or because his thorough handsomeness might blind the world if not covered up twenty-four-seven - but really, now that he's staring right at it, it's tremendously...

Ordinary.

Kakashi smiles a slow, lazy smile with his wide, thin-lipped mouth. "Something wrong, Yamato?"

That's not to say that he's not very, very attractive in a way that makes Yamato vaguely weak at the knees, but - "You're not what I expected," he says, still staring. Unashamedly, since this seems a once-in-a-lifetime event.

"Oh, you mean," says Kakashi, gesturing at his own narrow jaw and high cheekbones. There's a hint of greyish-white stubble on his chin, which Yamato supposes puts the final nail in the coffin of the old 'bleached hair man' moniker. Unless - no, Shizune would've told him by now.

Yamato nods. There is another scar, he notices, slightly thicker and running along Kakashi's jawline.

He keeps staring, and Kakashi keeps staring back with a half-smirk tucked into the corner of his mouth, until Yamato becomes acutely aware that they're easily close enough to kiss, and breaks the look nervously.

"Anyway," Kakashi says, finishing his cookie and tucking his face back under the scarf. "Simple adventurer is what we eventually decided on. I'd like to give you and Shizune a copy of the draft, when I wrap it up."

Right. The book. "Sure," Yamato says, aware that he's just willingly agreed to sacrifice several hours of his life for the likely unpleasant task of reading a trashy romance novel. He must _really_ like Kakashi, his brain sings smugly.

Their conversation turns to other things for the next few minutes, before Yamato has to sling his bag over his shoulder and leave for his train. He waves goodbye to Kakashi without looking at him, trying not to think of the face hidden beneath that thick dark scarf.

~~

Yamato finds the mall courtyard blocked off to the public when he arrives the following afternoon, nimbly dodging the remains of last night's rainstorm dripping off the building's gutters. His heart warms briefly, spying Kakashi and Shizune waiting for him under the laminated 'Closed for Repairs and Maintenance' sign, before he remembers that it's probably his fault for not giving them his phone number, so they have to wait instead of just firing off a text.

He resolves to remedy that situation as soon as possible, but in the meantime, there is the problem of what to do about the courtyard closure.

"There's a place I know just down the road," Shizune suggests. She's wearing a touch more makeup than usual and a smile that he suspects is mostly fake; not good signs as to what transpired at her date last night. "I think they do coffee."

"Good enough," Kakashi says, so they stroll out of the mall in a tidy little trio and head in the direction Shizune points. Yamato observes, with surprise, Kakashi's hand clasped around hers as they walk. The evening must've gone worse than he'd surmised, he thinks worriedly.

He considers reaching for Kakashi's other hand, but chickens out very quickly.

The 'place' is a teeny tiny coffee-shop with far more comfortable chairs than the mall, though it lacks the cheerful barista and the ever-changing flow of people to rate. "Yeah, I think they do coffee," Shizune jokes, prying her hand from Kakashi's gently and waving it at the long list of caffeinated drinks on the menu.

It's almost a dose of culture-shock, seeing them outside the familiar environment. "No iced tea, though," he says to Kakashi, whose expression turns forlorn.

Shizune stays quiet until their drinks are delivered, and then she takes a long, long gulp of coffee and slams her cup down on the lacquered wood table. Softly, so as not to lose the liquid inside, but a definite slam. "It was so stupid," she says mournfully.

Kakashi tries to take her hand again, but she shakes her head. "I'm okay," she insists, sounding simultaneously frustrated and grateful. "It was just so stupid. I got there, and Tsunade was really lovely - she looked stunning, and then we went inside and sat down and I was so _nervous_ , I couldn't believe any of it was happening. And then I -"

She buries her face in her hands. Yamato and Kakashi wait quietly for her to recover.

"I saw a seven, and I called it," Shizune whispers.

"You _didn't_ ," Yamato says, aghast.

Shizune nods, raising her head. "I started _people-rating_ in the middle of a date," she says, and bursts out laughing.

Kakashi looks thoroughly lost.

"Oh my god," Shizune moans when she's done laughing, downing another mouthful of coffee. "It wasn't even that bad; Tsunade had no idea what I was talking about but I kept thinking she _knew_ somehow, and she was kinda off somewhere else the whole time. So it was stupid. And she was the most beautiful person I've ever met," she adds despondently.

"It'll be okay," Yamato says, though he doesn't really have the knowledge of Tsunade, or the experience in general, to back up his statement. He sends a look to Kakashi, who nods sagely and says, "It'll definitely be okay. Tsunade was probably just distracted."

"By what?"

"Money problems," Kakashi says, continuing to nod.

Shizune frowns, clearly puzzled. "Money problems?"

He sips some of the latte Yamato had bought for him - with a straw, of course - and smiles comfortingly. "Well, she owes me fifty bucks, for a start. Tsunade's always been a sucker for betting and gambling. And she generally loses. So, when you started with the numbers, she was probably reminded of the seven people chasing her for cash at the moment."

"But," says Shizune, staring confused into the depths of her cup. "She paid."

"There you go," Kakashi says. "She definitely likes you."

The mood around the table picks up considerably from that point on.

At least, from Yamato's perspective, until Kakashi brings up the book again. Shizune, from what he can gather, has heard about it before, but had filed it somewhere in the back of her head under 'Unimportant', like Yamato wishes he could, so she's being subjected to the same exposition Kakashi was giving yesterday.

She pokes him from across the table somewhere between attorneys and senpais and mutters, "It's almost like he's channelling Guy, with the enthusiasm."

"Guy?" Yamato murmurs back.

"You'll meet him sooner or later."

Again, Yamato doesn't really want to know.

He does get somewhat alarmed when Kakashi produces two thick amateur-bound piles of paper from one deceptively deep jacket pocket. "Wait, is that the book?"

"Yeah," Kakashi says with a hint of pride.

"I... didn't realise you were that close to finishing it?"

Kakashi pats the stacks affectionately. "Last night."

"Wow," Shizune says, looking interested. Actually, Yamato guesses trashy romance might be just what she needs to cheer her up right about now. Personally, he could do without, but he doesn't think Kakashi's going to take no for an answer.

And he did promise. Sort of.

"I put my number on top, in case you finish and want to tell me what you think of it. My phone number," Kakashi clarifies. Shizune elbows him.

Speaking of phone numbers - "I should give you mine," Yamato says, pulling out his mobile, and Shizune fishes her phone out of her pocket as well. The conversation lapses in favour of a swift exchange of numbers, programmed in before passing the phone along to the next person. Yamato scrolls through his contacts once they finish, eyeing 'kakashi ;)' and 'shizune :)' before ridding their names of smileys and adding capitals.

Kakashi hands them a sheaf of paper each after the phone shuffle is complete, eagerly tapping his name typed in neat black letters underneath the title. Shizune tucks hers under her arm, and Yamato stows his in his bag, draped over the edge of his seat, silently despairing that of all the things that could shatter Kakashi's air of general apathy, it had to be _this_.

It could be worse, he supposes. It could've involved tentacles.

There's no way he'd still be here if that were the case, though. Kakashi isn't nearly irresistable enough for him to willingly involve himself in discussions about that particular kind of pornography.

Dragging his mind firmly away from thoughts of that nature, Yamato rejoins the chatter, pondering when he's going to find the time to read the weighty draft stashed in his bag.

~~

 _The brunette_ \- really? - _blushed a flattering shade of pink and bit his full rosy pink lips_ \- that's two pinks - _enticingly. "I've never been with a man before," he-_

Yamato slams the manuscript down on the table.

He barely resists the urge to slam his face down, too. What kind of person could happily read this? What kind of person could possibly _write_ this?

"Kakashi," he moans quietly.

It isn't bad in the way he'd expected it to be; it's just not very _good_ , and clearly targeted to an audience of which Yamato would not consider himself part. The only thing that's kept him from just throwing it at a wall and quitting is the vague semblance of plot tying together the sexual adventures of the silver-haired hero, who wanders from town to town, accompanied by his raven-haired sidekick, bedding people of all shapes, sizes and genders. That last part was something of a surprise: Yamato had always thought these novels were, as a rule, filled to the brim with busty women and not much else.

Though there were still a lot of busty women.

The bustiest of them had been mere moments away from confessing her love to the one-eyed protagonist when the story had taken an unexpected turn, and a new character had appeared, a shy 'brunette' young man who swiftly captured the scarred main character's heart.

Up until half an hour ago, Yamato had firmly believed he was done being embarrassed by Kakashi, but apparently, he was wrong.

He opens the book again and peeks at the next few paragraphs.

_"Kakeru," the brunette moaned loudly as his silver-haired lover knelt between his shapely thighs and lovingly took his engorged manhood in his mouth -_

He closes the book again. Rapidly.

Well, he hopes Shizune gets a good laugh out of it, at least.

As if on cue, his mobile buzzes loudly on the kitchen counter. Yamato heaves his head up from its limp rest against the paper of the worst thing he's ever read to fumble for the phone, bringing it to his face.

_Shizune: Read it yet? ;)_

Yamato sighs, throwing all of his shame and despair and utter exasperation into a single breath.

 _Yes,_ he presses into the onscreen keyboard, noting with flat resignation that the time on the display reads one AM on Monday morning. _My head feels numb._

_Shizune: mine too. Liked the ending tho._

The ending where Seiko, the protagonist's sidekick, gets her guy and rides off into the sunset with her best friend and his lover? _Of course you did._

_Shizune: Ha ha_

He sighs, again, and thumbs through his virtual phonebook viciously until he gets to Kakashi's name. The man had said to tell him when they'd finished. And what they'd thought of it. Never mind that it's one in the morning. Payback, Yamato thinks, and hammers out a quick text. The reply is swift.

_Kakashi: so you liked it?_

_I'd prefer to tell you exactly what I think of it in person_

_Kakashi: ill come over_

_It's 1 o'clock, Kakashi._

_Kakashi: yeah and you woke me up. where do you live_

Yamato blinks in surprise. He hadn't assumed - the best thing to do would be to tell him to go back to bed and work up an annoyed, embarrassed rant to hit him with later in the day.

So, obviously, he texts Kakashi his address and leans against the counter to calm the butterflies in his stomach.

~~

His mobile's backlit display reads 1:58 AM by the time there's a quiet triple-knock at his door. Yamato starts from the position he's held for the last hour or so, unlocking the door and swinging it open to admit Kakashi.

He's dressed precisely as if he had just rolled out of bed and driven here without bothering to put on real clothes: loose paw-print-patterned t-shirt, tracksuit pants, hastily thrown on dark jacket, and a distinct lack of shoes. There is something to be said, Yamato decides, stepping aside to let him brush past into the apartment, for the rumpled look.

"Good morning," Kakashi says, surveying the kitchen and turning back to Yamato with a tired smile. A real, uncovered one. So, he doesn't sleep with the scarf on.

Yamato pauses to re-familiarise himself with the scathing review of Kakashi's book that he composed while he was waiting before he responds. He props himself against the wall opposite Kakashi, now perched on the counter with his long legs hanging off the edge, and folds his arms. "Morning," he says.

"So," Kakashi prompts. "What did you think?"

"It was terrible," Yamato says flatly.

Kakashi's expression goes curiously blank.

"I - I'm sure I'm not qualified to judge this type of... literature," he amends hastily. "But I really, really didn't like it. The story was okay, but the sex scenes were really - I'm not - I mean, I didn't read them all the way through. It's not the kind of thing I read."

To his surprise, Kakashi grins.

"What?" Yamato asks, confused.

"I knew," Kakashi says, knocking his knees together. "You wouldn't like it." He sweeps hair away from his face, looking at Yamato with both eyes, black and red. "You're predictable that way."

Yamato can feel a flush creeping onto his cheeks. "Says the person who sits in the same seat with the same people and the same drink nearly every day," he says mildly, trying not to meet those dancing eyes.

"You sit next to me," Kakashi points out.

"Alright, then." He's gearing back up for the rant, now that Kakashi's made it clear he doesn't mind hearing his honest opinion. "Was it necessary to use 'brunette' so many times? Even in the sex scenes? It was irritating."

"Would you have preferred I give him red hair?"

"Maybe then he wouldn't have been so obviously _me_ ," Yamato says exasperatedly, moving away from the wall to step over and point accusingly at the book. "And you should think about making your hero less transparently _you_."

"Write what you know," Kakashi says innocently.

Yamato adjusts his condemning finger so that it points at Kakashi. "Isn't there a better way for you to tell me that you like me? Other than calling out numbers at me in public or writing porn featuring your self-insert?"

Silence. Kakashi looks thoughtful.

"Well?" Yamato demands, feeling a lot less sure of himself than a second ago.

"Well," Kakashi says, pushing off the counter and landing delicately on his bare feet, covering the distance between them in a couple of strides. "There's always this."

The kiss is soft, and agonisingly short, but Kakashi tastes sweet - like iced tea, he thinks giddily - and the warmth sends a glorious tingling up and down Yamato's spine. He reaches up to cup Kakashi's face in his hands before it ends, tracing the jaw scar with his thumb.

He's sure his cheeks are blazing red by the time they both pull away, although he spots a pink stain high on Kakashi's cheekbones as well, to his delight. "That works," he says shakily.

Kakashi smiles at him. "Should I rename the brunette too?"

"To what?" Yamato asks suspiciously.

"Tenzo?"

"I don't think -"

"Kinoe?"

"Don't like that one."

"Yamato?"

"Absolutely not," Yamato says with feeling, but the rest of his argument is cut off by the pressure of Kakashi's mouth against his again.

This time, it's a little deeper and a little more heated, Yamato's hands trailing down to Kakashi's hips to push him back until he's pinned between the wall and Yamato's own body - his lips part wider, letting Kakashi slip his tongue into his mouth - Kakashi's fingers twist in his hair, belatedly reminding him to check if that wild white mess is as soft as it looks.

It is.

Yamato tangles one hand in it, enjoying the feel of Kakashi breathing hard against him, and withdraws for a second before kissing him harder, using his other hand to explore the skin under Kakashi's rapidly riding-up t-shirt.

Eventually, they come up for air, Kakashi relaxing into him and inhaling deeply. He lets the breath out in a quiet laugh, and says, "I'm too tired for this."

Yamato can't see the time from his position, neck curled so his forehead is resting on Kakashi's chest, but he suspects it's something like two-thirty. "Me too," he says, suddenly aware of how ridiculous it is to be doing this in his _kitchen_ , of all places, in the middle of the night.

"That's okay," Kakashi says, pressing his cheek into Yamato's hair. "I prefer to take it slow, anyway."

He lets go of him after one last, brief kiss and yanks his t-shirt into place, stepping back and giving Yamato a smile with his eyes, as if his face were hidden. "I should get home before I doze off right here."

On impulse, Yamato says, "Don't go."

Kakashi raises his eyebrows.

"If you're that tired, you could fall asleep at the wheel and get yourself killed."

"That wouldn't be fun," Kakashi says. He frowns, sounding abruptly nervous. "But I wouldn't want to impose - you -"

Yamato sighs, rubbing his forehead and smiling at the idiot who thinks that he'd be disturbing the man who had him up against a wall about three minutes ago. "It's fine, Kakashi."

After some flustered insistence that it really is fine, he sets his friend - lover? boyfriend? he supposes they'll have to sort that out in the morning, though it technically already is the morning - up on the couch with some pillows and a blanket he doesn't remember owning, and then goes to bed himself.

Footsteps wake him five minutes later.

"Not worried about imposing anymore, huh?"

"Nope," Kakashi murmurs, yawning and sliding under the sheets behind him. "You're warm," he adds as further explanation, and curls up with his arm wrapped around Yamato's middle.

It's nice, and it's certainly warm, and Yamato drifts off to sleep contentedly.

~~

Kakashi is already gone when he wakes up again groggily at nearly noon, but there's a message on his phone.

Kakashi: see you at the regular place :)

He dresses quickly, grabbing his bag and heading out the door with a lingering glance at the book manuscript lying abandoned on the kitchen counter. He's not sure anymore whether he wants to burn it or frame it, in return for last night. This morning.

The regular place is buzzing with the lunchtime crowd, people swarming through and forming a proper queue at the coffee stand. The cashier gives him a thumbs-up and points behind him when he tries to join the end of the line.

"I got it," a deep voice says cheerfully.

Yamato turns to see Kakashi at their table, holding a coffee out to him. "Thanks," he says gratefully, moving over to take it and half-wave hello to Shizune, who grins at him. His bag comes off his shoulder to rest at the foot of his chair as he sits down. It's so much easier than it was barely a month ago, he thinks, when he hadn't even known their names.

"So," Shizune says conversationally, looking between him and Kakashi. "The kitchen."

To Yamato's immense gratification, Kakashi goes a tiny bit red, just above his scarf. Which serves him right for telling her straight away.

"Yeah," Yamato confirms.

Shizune beams. Actually, she looks ready to burst. "I just got a phone call," she says, hands clasped tightly around her coffee cup. "From Tsunade." Her shoulders start to shake, and Yamato has the sudden nervous thought that she might really explode, but then she starts giggling happily, and says, "She wanted to apologise for not being the best date the other day and ask if we could go somewhere further away from Central Bank next time."

Kakashi laughs knowingly. "I told you it was money problems."

"Yamato," says Shizune, after her giggles - and their congratulations - subside. "Now that you've seen Kakashi's full face, what do you think? You have a rating, right?"

A rating. "Sure," Yamato says brightly, pretending to think. "He's not as pretty as I thought - so, a good eight and a half, I guess. Maybe a nine."

Shizune swats him. Kakashi gives him the evil eye over his iced tea.

"Alright, okay, you're a ten."

"Thank you," Kakashi says gravely, but he's smiling.

Yamato smiles back, and keeps smiling, even when he eventually realises he's completely missed his train. There'll always be another in an hour or so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, look, i got it done early! hope it was fun to read; i'm really pleased with how it turned out.


End file.
